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August 30,1985 9 Vol 16, No. 35
5th Circuit deals blow
by Lisa M. Keen
The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
rattled Gay legal activists Monday with a 9
to 7 vote en bane to uphold the Texas
sodomy law.
The unusual two-page decision, penned
by a Carter appointee and endorsed by six
Reagan and two Nixon appointees, declares
that the Texas sodomy law is "a permissable
state goal" because of "the strong objection
to homosexual conduct, which has
prevailed in Western culture for the past
seven centuries. . .
The majority opinion also declares—in
direct conflict with an 11th Circuit opinion
in May—that "there can be no question"
that the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the
1975 challenge to the Virginia sodomy law
"on the merits of the case," making Doe v
Commonwealth binding in challenges to
state sodomy laws.
The Fifth Circuit's decision this week in
Baker' Wade reversed a district court
ruling in August 1982 which declared the
statute unconstitutional.
by Rick Harding
With widespread publicity and
controversy brewing in Massachusetts
over recent policies which prevent Gays
from becoming foster parents, Irvin
Conway remains nonchalant about his
appointment to help review Maryland's
foster care program. Conway is openly
Gay, and in February, he was aePointed
by Governor Harry Hughes to serve on
one of Maryland's 45 seven-member
foster care review boards.
"I really hadn't thought about it as
being that unusual," said Conway about
his appointment After all, he grew up in
Baltimore with 14 brothers and sisters in
a family that "was always involved in
civil rights!' And he has spent much of
his 47 years serving this community—
helping inner-city Nicks and Gays.
By occupation, Conway is a social
worker, serving as a neighborhood
assistant with the Baltimore Urban
Services Program in West Baltimore. In
his spare time, he serves as chairman of
the Baltimore Black Coalition of
Lesbians and Gay Men and works with a
number of community social service
committees, including the Baltimore
Foster Care Review Board.
Besides raising two children himself
Conway feels his 16 years with the
Baltimore Urban Services Program gave
him the necessary experience to work on
the review board. The Urban Services
Program has administered such projects
as distributing cheese and heating fuel to
the needy and helped countless others cut
through the red tape of bureaucracy to
secure services from state agencies.
In a complicated and unusual series of
events, the Texas Attorney General
appealed the 1982 district court ruling then
withdrew the appeal. However, Potter
County District Attorney Danny Hill
requested permission from the court to
pursue the appeal on his own as a
representative of all other Texas law
officials even though no other state law
official indicated they wanted the decision
75(P Outside_o D.C./Baltimore Areas
THE GAY WEEKLY OF THE NATIONS CAPITAL
appealed. The district court has yet to issue a
final ruling on Hill's request.
Shortly after filing in the district court,
Hill also filed his appeal request with the
-Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans. In an
ironic twist, the three-judge panel which
unanimously rejected his request last year
for lack of standing, included Judge
Thomas Reavley, the Carter appointee who
penned the majority opinion which
confirmed Hil's1 standing on Monday.
There were two dissents filed with
Monday's opinion. Six of the dissenting
judges are Carter appointees, one was a
Johnson appointee.
The primary dissent, an eight-page
opinion authored by Judge Alvin Rubin,
who was also on the original three-judge
panel, deals strictly with Hill's standing in
the case. Rubin harshly chastizes the
majority opinion as "trampl[ing] every
procedural rule is considers!'
'lie court's judicial sponsorship of
Danny Hill as spokesman for the State of
Continued on page 10
Gays are 'as responsible as anyone else,' says Irvin Conway.
Bernice Silver, who heads the
selection committee which nominated
Conway for the board, said that While
the review boards do not actually decide
in which homes foster children will be
placed, they do review the placements
made by the state's Social Services
Department.
Each board member goes through a
training session, said Conway, and at one
training session he attended with 12
other review board appointees, the
members were asked what their reaction
would be to a Gay person who applied to
be a foster parent.
One man in the group said he would
object, recalled Conway.
"I told him I supported Gays adopting
children," raid Conway, "because [Gays]
could be as responsible as anyone else."
The man continued to object, said
Conway, so Conway told him that he
had raised two nephews by himself.
"Well, that's different," Conway
remembered the man saying. "You can
do it."
"But, I'm Gay," Conway told the
man.
Conway said the man's mouth
Continued on page 9
New VGA
structure is
delayed
by Rick Harding
Plans to transform the Virginia Gay
Alliance from a centralized state organ-ization
into a "confederation" of local
chapters have been delayed by at least a
month due to differences of opinion over
exactly how and in what form the new
structure will be developed.
• At an August 10 meeting in Richmond,
VGA members assigned the three local
chapter chairmen—from Arlington,
Richmond, and Roanoke—to draft a
proposal to revitalize the troubled
organization by dissolving the state office,
and leaving individual autonomous
chapters.
Representatives from the Richmond and
Arlington chapters met in Richmond on
August 18 to draft the proposal. On August
24, one chapter chairman, Guy Kinman
from Richmond, met with the board of
directors in Lynchburg to present the plan.
According to Kinman, Roanoke chapter
Chairman Sam Garrison was absent due to
a family medical emergency, Arlington
chairman John Whitener bad a previous
engagement, and Arlington member John
Meroney, who was to represent Whitener
and had participated in drafting the
proposal, was ill.
Coleman said the proposal Kinman
presented to the board at the meeting
represented a "project well done," but said
there were some areas that "needed further
discussion."
Coleman refused to disclose any details
Continued on page 9
Funeral directors' fears 5
Vote to rebut Cameron 6
Club Washington reopens 8
Teach it in high school 11
A 'Double Play' 17

August 30,1985 9 Vol 16, No. 35
5th Circuit deals blow
by Lisa M. Keen
The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
rattled Gay legal activists Monday with a 9
to 7 vote en bane to uphold the Texas
sodomy law.
The unusual two-page decision, penned
by a Carter appointee and endorsed by six
Reagan and two Nixon appointees, declares
that the Texas sodomy law is "a permissable
state goal" because of "the strong objection
to homosexual conduct, which has
prevailed in Western culture for the past
seven centuries. . .
The majority opinion also declares—in
direct conflict with an 11th Circuit opinion
in May—that "there can be no question"
that the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the
1975 challenge to the Virginia sodomy law
"on the merits of the case," making Doe v
Commonwealth binding in challenges to
state sodomy laws.
The Fifth Circuit's decision this week in
Baker' Wade reversed a district court
ruling in August 1982 which declared the
statute unconstitutional.
by Rick Harding
With widespread publicity and
controversy brewing in Massachusetts
over recent policies which prevent Gays
from becoming foster parents, Irvin
Conway remains nonchalant about his
appointment to help review Maryland's
foster care program. Conway is openly
Gay, and in February, he was aePointed
by Governor Harry Hughes to serve on
one of Maryland's 45 seven-member
foster care review boards.
"I really hadn't thought about it as
being that unusual," said Conway about
his appointment After all, he grew up in
Baltimore with 14 brothers and sisters in
a family that "was always involved in
civil rights!' And he has spent much of
his 47 years serving this community—
helping inner-city Nicks and Gays.
By occupation, Conway is a social
worker, serving as a neighborhood
assistant with the Baltimore Urban
Services Program in West Baltimore. In
his spare time, he serves as chairman of
the Baltimore Black Coalition of
Lesbians and Gay Men and works with a
number of community social service
committees, including the Baltimore
Foster Care Review Board.
Besides raising two children himself
Conway feels his 16 years with the
Baltimore Urban Services Program gave
him the necessary experience to work on
the review board. The Urban Services
Program has administered such projects
as distributing cheese and heating fuel to
the needy and helped countless others cut
through the red tape of bureaucracy to
secure services from state agencies.
In a complicated and unusual series of
events, the Texas Attorney General
appealed the 1982 district court ruling then
withdrew the appeal. However, Potter
County District Attorney Danny Hill
requested permission from the court to
pursue the appeal on his own as a
representative of all other Texas law
officials even though no other state law
official indicated they wanted the decision
75(P Outside_o D.C./Baltimore Areas
THE GAY WEEKLY OF THE NATIONS CAPITAL
appealed. The district court has yet to issue a
final ruling on Hill's request.
Shortly after filing in the district court,
Hill also filed his appeal request with the
-Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans. In an
ironic twist, the three-judge panel which
unanimously rejected his request last year
for lack of standing, included Judge
Thomas Reavley, the Carter appointee who
penned the majority opinion which
confirmed Hil's1 standing on Monday.
There were two dissents filed with
Monday's opinion. Six of the dissenting
judges are Carter appointees, one was a
Johnson appointee.
The primary dissent, an eight-page
opinion authored by Judge Alvin Rubin,
who was also on the original three-judge
panel, deals strictly with Hill's standing in
the case. Rubin harshly chastizes the
majority opinion as "trampl[ing] every
procedural rule is considers!'
'lie court's judicial sponsorship of
Danny Hill as spokesman for the State of
Continued on page 10
Gays are 'as responsible as anyone else,' says Irvin Conway.
Bernice Silver, who heads the
selection committee which nominated
Conway for the board, said that While
the review boards do not actually decide
in which homes foster children will be
placed, they do review the placements
made by the state's Social Services
Department.
Each board member goes through a
training session, said Conway, and at one
training session he attended with 12
other review board appointees, the
members were asked what their reaction
would be to a Gay person who applied to
be a foster parent.
One man in the group said he would
object, recalled Conway.
"I told him I supported Gays adopting
children," raid Conway, "because [Gays]
could be as responsible as anyone else."
The man continued to object, said
Conway, so Conway told him that he
had raised two nephews by himself.
"Well, that's different," Conway
remembered the man saying. "You can
do it."
"But, I'm Gay," Conway told the
man.
Conway said the man's mouth
Continued on page 9
New VGA
structure is
delayed
by Rick Harding
Plans to transform the Virginia Gay
Alliance from a centralized state organ-ization
into a "confederation" of local
chapters have been delayed by at least a
month due to differences of opinion over
exactly how and in what form the new
structure will be developed.
• At an August 10 meeting in Richmond,
VGA members assigned the three local
chapter chairmen—from Arlington,
Richmond, and Roanoke—to draft a
proposal to revitalize the troubled
organization by dissolving the state office,
and leaving individual autonomous
chapters.
Representatives from the Richmond and
Arlington chapters met in Richmond on
August 18 to draft the proposal. On August
24, one chapter chairman, Guy Kinman
from Richmond, met with the board of
directors in Lynchburg to present the plan.
According to Kinman, Roanoke chapter
Chairman Sam Garrison was absent due to
a family medical emergency, Arlington
chairman John Whitener bad a previous
engagement, and Arlington member John
Meroney, who was to represent Whitener
and had participated in drafting the
proposal, was ill.
Coleman said the proposal Kinman
presented to the board at the meeting
represented a "project well done," but said
there were some areas that "needed further
discussion."
Coleman refused to disclose any details
Continued on page 9
Funeral directors' fears 5
Vote to rebut Cameron 6
Club Washington reopens 8
Teach it in high school 11
A 'Double Play' 17